Discussion of 38th and Venture Drive continues

Are you one of the people turning around in the bank parking lots north of the mall?  The intersection of 38^th Street and Venture Drive in Peru would seem to be a work in progress.

The Public Works Committee Monday listened to store managers and others taking suggestions about the intersection that was recently reconfigured.

Jim Clinard with Chamlin and Associates says they counted the cars Monday afternoon.  About a third of the cars heading south on Venture went into parking lots and did u-turns so they could get to Route 251.  A semi also took out a stop sign.  Clinard says he’s asked IDOT to consider the Route 251 and 38^th Street stoplights.

Alderman Dave Waldorf says the ideas from the meeting have been passed along to engineers.

Peru Lion’s Club helps IV Food Pantry

Late summer is a hard time for food pantries so a food collection by the Peru Lion’s Club has been extremely helpful for the Illinois Valley Food Pantry.

The club Saturday collected more than $1,200 pounds of food and more than $400.  Pantry Executive Director Donna Hess says thanks to the food drive they can give cereal to each family.

LP freshmen report to school Tuesday for orientation

How do you get from your locker to the science hallway in only five minutes?  And where is the foreign language hall?  The questions you have when you’re a high school freshman.

Students starting at LP High School will put in a full day Tuesday as part of an orientation.  The morning begins with a presentation at 8am in the gym followed by lunch and more presentations.  Students will also have a chance to go through their schedule and visit their classes.  They even get to ride home on the bus.

The first day of school is Wednesday.

Power restored in Bureau County

The power is back on for most of Bureau County after an accident involving a cattle truck caused an outage.  A semi knocked over power lines this morning near the Interstate 80 and Route 40 interchange at Sheffield.  Hundreds of Ameren customers had been affected.

Peru Talking About Streaming Council Meetings

The decision to close the city swimming pool and the discussion about which roads to repave are things you would have heard if you had been at those city council meetings.

While the Peru City Council meets once a week in the evenings, Alderman Rodney Perez is trying to make it possible for people who can’t go to the meetings to watch them online.

Perez had Tom Hancock of Connecting Point Computer Center talk to the council Wednesday night.  He estimates it would cost the city 24 hundred dollars to get a camera and set up for recording and archiving meetings to make them available online.

Hancock said the city would also have to pay more for its website since they would be using more bandwidth. A woman with Comcast will visit the council next week to explain how the meetings could be aired on Channel 13.

Perez wants Peru to offer coverage similar to what’s Princeton has been doing.